Protect Your Family— FinanciallY

eTiQa Takaful (spreading the wing)

The Maybank arm is in the final stage of setting up a family takaful unit in Pakistan, and recently received approval to buy 60 per cent of PT Anugrah Life Insurance
MALAYAN Banking Bhd’s insurance and takaful arm, Etiqa, aims to be a leader in the takaful market by expanding aggressively globally through strategic alliances.

Etiqa has earmarked Pakistan and Indonesia as markets with tremendous potential for takaful products due to the large Muslim population found in both countries.

“We are in the final stage of setting up a family takaful unit in Pakistan with Pak-Kuwait Investment Co Pte Ltd,” said its executive vice-president Mohd Nasir Harun, who heads corporate planning and strategy for international ventures and alliances.

The family takaful business will be operational by third quarter this year, with Maybank Group owning a 30 per cent stake.
Maybank Group had previously worked with Pak-Kuwait Investment to set up the country’s first takaful company in Pakistan, with the former owning a 25 per cent stake.

The group also recently received approval to purchase a 60 per cent stake in Indonesia’s PT Anugrah Life Insurance.

“With approval from Indonesia’s Finance Ministry, our baseline is to set up the life business with special focus on takaful,” said Mohd Nasir, adding that the insurance penetration was low in Indonesia.

The global takaful business is expected to grow to more than RM47 billion by 2015 from roughly RM6 billion now.

“Our strategy for global expansion is to open up in new markets and enhance existing international operations,” Mohd Nasir told Business Times in an interview.

Maybank is also collaborating with a unit of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to set up a global takaful holding company, which will create a network of takaful companies worldwide.

“This will be a platform for expansion of the general and family takaful businesses. We want to create synergies with takaful operators globally through sharing of knowledge and experiences,” he said.

He said the feasibility studies would be completed within six months and operations will begin subsequently.

Once the global takaful unit has been established, new expansions would be carried out through this unit.

For financial year ended June 30 2007, the gross premium written by Etiqa stood at RM4 billion while takaful premium was recorded at RM900 million.

It was reported that Etiqa aims to write about RM1.9 billion in takaful premiums for financial year 2008.

eTiQa Takaful

Takaful is an insurance concept in Shariah whereby a group of participants mutually agree among themselves to guarantee each other against a defined loss or damage that may inflict upon any of them by contributing as tabarru’ or donation in the takaful funds. It emphasizes unity and co-operation among participants. Takaful is not a new concept as it had been practised by the Muhajirin of Mecca and the Ansar of Medina following the hijra of the Prophet over 1400 years ago.